Edible material container



y 6, 1952 P. A. SHOUDY 2,596,087

EDIBLE MATERIAL CONTAINER Filed 001;. 12, 1949 fnz/eniof" .PCLZLZ CZ.J/zouciy Patented May 6, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EDIE-LEMATERIAL CONTAINER Paul A. Shoudy, Seattle, Wash., assignor toCalifornia Container Corporation, Oakland, Calif., a corporation ofDelaware Application October 12, 1949, Serial 120,931

- 2 Claims. 1

The present invention relates to containers of paperboard or similarsheet material and more particularly to containers of the type which areadapted for carrying and retention of edible materials such as icecream.

Objects of the invention are to provide a container which may beeconomically manufactured in collapsed form and easily set up withoutthe use of special securing means or devices; to retain the contents ina clean and sanitary condition; which may be deposited easily within aclose fitting refrigerator compartment and thereafter opened in asimple, easy manner by tearing oil certain closure flaps from the topsof the side walls; and generally to improve containers of this type.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the container in set-upcondition after it has been filled and closed;

Fig. 2 is a view of the blank for the container;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view, taken generally along the line 2--2 ofFig. 1, with a portion of the bottom pad broken away to illustrate themanner of assembling the bottom closure flaps of the container; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the method of removing theclosure fiaps from the container.

In general the container of the present inven tion comprises fourcomparably dimensioned side walls, having bottom flaps constructed so asto be engaged readily in bottom forming relation, and top flaps orextensions certain of which serve as top closures and others serving aslifting or carrying members, enabling the container when filled with icecream or similar material to be deposited readily in a retailrefrigerator cabinet from which the contents may be dispensed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the container, indicated asa whole at [0, is preferably formed of relatively thin corrugated boardhaving the inside liner formed of a sheet of white sulphite or parchmentpaper or similar aseptic sheet material to provide for sanitaryretention of the contents. The container I is preferably formed from ablank such as illustrated in Fig. 2. The blank is cut and creased toprovide four side walls ll, l2, l3 and M which are preferably comparablein size to provide a construction substantially square in cross section.

For thepurpose of forming a bottom closure for the container there ispreferably provided a set of bottom flaps l5, I6, I! and [8 formedintegrally with the respective side walls H, l2, I3

and I4. Flaps l5 and I! are similarly formed with diagonal edge portionsl9 and 20 and reduced end portions 2| and 22. The flap i8 is providedwith two projecting portions 23, 23 defining therebetween a recessedportion 24. The flap It has two inclined side edges 25, 25 symmetricallyformed and terminating in a reduced end portion 26. As illustrated inFig. 3 the bottom flaps may be secured in closed position. by firstfolding the flap 18 at right angles to the side walls, next foldingflaps l5 and I! to lie against flap [8 and afterward folding the flap I6against the other three flaps and pressing inwardly on the end portion25 until it has cleared the edge of the recessed portion 24 of the flapl3 whereupon the end 26 of the flap will snap in behind the edge of therecessed portion 24 and will maintain the flap assembly fromdisengagement except by upward pressure against the flaps. In otherwords the downward pressure produced by the contents within thecontainer will retain the flaps in closed condition.

In order to close the top of the container one or more detachable topflaps are provided. In the present instance a top flap 28 is provided oneach of the side walls l2 and I4. These flaps 28 may be made ofdiffering lengths but they are preferably substantially formed ofsimilar size and each is preferably formed so as to be readily detachedor torn away from the side walls by providing weakened lines 29, 29between the flaps and their side walls.

For the dual purpose of securing the flaps in closure forming positionand to facilitate the tearing away of the flaps the edges of the flapsare preferably interlocked. In the present instance the interlocking ofthe flaps is effected by forming cooperating notches in the centralportion of the edges of the flaps as indicated at 30, 3B. These notchesas illustrated are preferably somewhat wider than the thickness of thepaperboard so that interlocking can be easily effected by bringing theflaps down toward each other and at the same time slightly deflecting ortwisting the extended edge portions on each side of the notches so thatthe planes of the flaps will intersect and one-half the free edgeportion of one flap will be below and the other half will be above thecorresponding edge portions of the opposite flap, as illustrated in Fig.1.

In the preferred arrangement the weakened lines 29, 29 are formed sothat the flaps may not only readily be torn away but they will becomedetached after only a very few swinging movements relatively to the sidewalls. In practice,

r to be interlocked.

the flaps 28, 23 are bent over to lie over the 0011-.

lifting of one free edge portion, that is, the over- 3|, 3|, preferablyformed as integrally extended portions of the side Walls I and I3; Theseflaps may be formed with finger openings 32, 32 en abling a person topick up the container and deposit it at a desired place which, in thecase of the use of the container for ice cream, will be a compartment ina retail refrigerator cabinet from which the ice cream is intended to bescooped in retailtrade service.

The'flaps 3 i, 3 i are each defined from t ieir attac'hed side walls bycrease lines 33', 33 which facilitate the folding over of these flapsupon the interlocked fiaps 28, 28, thereby serving to protect the flaps23, 28 from accidentally becoming severed or displaced from the top ofthe container during handling. After the container has been filled withcontents, such as ice cream, up to a level'with the hinge lines 29, andbrought substantially to a solid condition by chilling, the flaps 28, 28will be folded over and interlocked as they are moved to final closureforming position. In such position the flaps 28, 28 will be disposedhorizontally over the top of the container and their under surfaces willbe in contact with the upper surface of the ice cream. Flaps 3|, 3| willthen be'folded over so as to rest upon the flaps 28, 28. Forthe purposeof providing for a smooth t of the flaps 3i, 3! upon flaps 28, 28 thecrease lines 33,33 are offset outwardly of the weakened hinge lines 29,why a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the paperboardmaterial. This will cause the 3|, 3| to lie relativ'ely smoothly uponthe upper surfaces of flaps Retention of these flaps in downtur-nedcondition for an interval will cause them to tend to remainsubstantially in such position after the retention force is removed anduntil. such time that it is desired to utilize the flaps 3|, 3| ascarrying or lifting elements.

In order to provide for a smooth bottom closure at separate panel orliner 3% is provided which is of such size as to fit snugly against theside walls when the liner has been inserted into the set-up containerand pushed down to rest flat against the bottom closure flaps.

In the use of the container it will be delivered to theproducer cficecream or other food prod- 7 not in a fiat tubular condition, the edgesof walls I iand. i lihaving been hingedly joined by a strip of'gummedtape 35. The container may be con; ditioned to receive the food productby simply expanding the walls ll, i2, i3 ind i l to open tubular formand by folding upward the bottom flaps as previously indicated so as tocause them The liner 34 is then inserted and pushed down to lie flatagainst the bottom r 4 closure flaps. The container is then ready toreceive its contents. After it is filled the flaps 28, 28 are foldeddown and interlocked during the downfolding movement and finally theflaps 3|, 3| are folded down against the flaps 28, 28. If desired, aliner of waxed or other sanitary paper may be placed on top of thecontents so as to lie beneath flaps 23, 23 and keep such flaps fromsticking to the contents.

In the case of the use of the container for ice cream or other chilledfood it will be delivered from the producer to a retail store. The corntainer may be retained closed until after it has been lifted by thehandle elements and deposited within a compartment in arefrigeratorcabinet. The handle elements enable the attendant to depositthe container into its receiving compartment with ease as it is underhis control at all times due to such handle elements. If two or morecontainers are to be received within the same compartment one on topof'the other the closure flaps of the underlying containeror containerswill be left intact. Otherwise, the closure flaps will be removed. Thiscan be done in a very expeditious manner by simply grasping the exposededge of a flap near its lateral edgeand lifting upward whereupon theilapwill break away progressively along its hinge line from one edge tothe other. Unless adhesion of the contents upon the opposite flap is toogreat this flap also will be lifted up due to the'int'erlocked edges ofthe flaps and will become detached at the same time as the flap thathas'be'en grasped by the attendant. The flaps may thus be torn awayeither as a group or individually depending upon the condition of thecontents andrthe fiaps' will then be discarded, leaving the handle flapsintact but out of the way of the attendant who will proceed to dispensethe contents of the container.

When the container has been emptied it may easily be removed from therefrigerator eompartment by means of the handle elements. If anoverlying container has been previously emptied and removed from thecompartment a lower container in the compartment ma then be opened byremoval of its detachable flaps. The contents of the lower container arethus maintained out of contact with the bottom of the overlyingcontainer *itil the latter has been removed and the convenient featureof enabling the closure flaps to be removed and discarded at the timethat the container is in position within its compartment greatlysimplifies the problem of maintaining the containers contents in a cleanand sanitary corn dition and, the same time, assures that the closureelements will not in any way hamper the attendant in scooping out thecontent of the container.

While the present description sets forth apieferrcd embodiment theinvention, certain changes may be made in the constructionwithoutdeparting from spirit of the invention,

and it is therefore desired that the present emtwo opposite side wallsintegrally hinged with respect to the side walls along weakened lines,whereby such flaps may be readily torn from the side walls, the topflaps being of such length that their free portions overlap one anotherwhen the flaps are in closed position, the free edge portion of each topclosure flap being formed with a centrally located straight slotsomewhat wider than the thickness of the flap and extendingsubstantially at right angles to the hinge line of the flap, each slotdefining rigidly extended portions on each side thereof, and adaptingthe free edge portions of the flaps to be interlocked by theinterfitting of the slots so that the rigid extended portion on one sideof the closure flap will be above the adjacent extended portion of theother flap, and at the other side the rigid extended portion on thefirst mentioned closure fiap will be below the adjacent extended portionof the other flap, the lines of weakness along the hinges of the flapswith their side walls being sufficiently strong to permit the two flapsto be bent over at right angles to the side wall and interlocked andsufiiciently weak so that the two interlocked flaps may be easilydisengaged or torn away from the top edges of the side wall by pullingupward upon one overlying extended edge portion.

2. A container for edible material, such as ice cream and the like,formed of relatively stifi corrugated paperboard material and comprisingfour interconnected side Walls, a bottom closure member connected to theside walls, severable interlocking top closure flaps on the upper edgesof two opposite side walls integrally hinged with respect to the sidewalls along weakened lines, whereby such flaps may be readily torn fromthe side Walls, the top flaps being of such length that their freeportions overlap one another when the 6 flaps are in closed position,the free edge portion of each top closure flap being formed with acentrally located straight slot and extending substantially right anglesto the hinge line of the flap, each slot defining rigidly extendedportions on each side thereof, and adapting the free edge portions ofthe flaps to be interlocked by the interfitting of the slots so that therigid extended portion on one side of the closure flap will be above theadjacent extended portion of the other flap, and at the other side therigid extended portion on the first mentioned closure flap will be belowthe adjacent extended portion of the other flap, the lines of weaknessalong the hinges of the flaps with their side walls being sufiicientlystrong to permit the two flaps to be bent over at right angles totheside wall and interlocked and with ciently weak so that the twointerlocked flaps may be easily disengaged or torn away from the topedges of the side wall by pulling upward upon one overlying extendededge portion.

PAUL A. SHOUDY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,444,050 Wright Feb. 6, 19231,852,527 King Apr. 5, 1932 1,869,742 Edmunds Aug. 2, 1932 2,039,830Owens May 5, 1936 2,087,394 Babineau July 20, 1937 2,225,492 WarrickDec. 17, 1940 2,269,013 Dorfman Jan. 6, 1942 2,398,200 Van Voorhis Apr.9, 1946

